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    #46
    Re: Pop Culture Paganism

    Originally posted by Medusa View Post
    You are right. It's all the same to me.

    I was just curious by those who do this, if it's known to be fake but useful or real. I assumed most were using it as an archetype (the way Satanists use Satan) So I get that. I just don't want to pretend to understand and accept mentally ill people who do think Jedis are real and on other planets etc. Because it's one step to cutting off my head if they trip wrong!
    It's the same knee jerk reaction I think we all have when we're first exposed to the idea of Pop Culture paganism... "but it's not REAL". But when you think about it more, and when you start talking to people who actually do this, you start to see that it's not really that different to most pagan's belief patterns.

    Having said that, I think there absolutely are people out there who actually believe in the literal existence of these entities. Some accept the 'egregore' explanation, but I'm sure there are those who think they were pre-existing entities completely separate to human construction. That I struggle with myself... I can't reconcile the literal, actual existence of Pokemon or Sailor Moon. But I get that maybe someone's archetype wears Sailor Moon's face, or that the Divine manifests that way because that's the image that helps the person understand that energy more deeply. I even sort of get people using fictional creatures like Pokemon as 'animal guides'... kind of... this one I struggle with a bit more, but I do get why they might.

    But then, I'm a hard polytheist shamanist, so by your definition, I'm crazy. But I'm okay with that. If you boil me right down to my core, I'm agnostic and I completely accept the possibility that I'm crazy. I just believe in my beliefs anyway because they enrich my life. I figure, who am I to denigrate anyone else for doing the same with their beliefs?

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      #47
      Re: Pop Culture Paganism

      Also, just to clarify... I didn't mean that comment snarkily at all... I was just trying to illustrate the point as succinctly as possibly. You know I'm no good at 'succinct'. Usually when I try I just end up feeling blunt and bitchy!

      Comment


        #48
        Re: Pop Culture Paganism

        It's all good. In actual real life I think most people tend to be a nice middle ground. They use the imagery and they don't try to sacrifice me to their god. I guess I'm slanted because I've been around quite a few of the crazies. Once you see mentally ill people (like my mother and brother (who is schizophrenic)) you tend to be weary of people with imaginary anything. :=L:
        Satan is my spirit animal

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          #49
          Re: Pop Culture Paganism

          Speaking to the choir sister..been there,done that..
          MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

          all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
          NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
          don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.




          sigpic

          my new page here,let me know what you think.


          nothing but the shadow of what was

          witchvox
          http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.html

          Comment


            #50
            Re: Pop Culture Paganism

            Originally posted by Rae'ya View Post
            This depends largely on how you worship, though. If you're a hard polytheist who believes that deities are literal entities who are actually interacting with you on a level that is external to yourself, I agree that Pop Culture paganism could make your practice harder.


            BUT... if you were a soft polytheist who believes that deities are manifestations of some overruling Divine Force, and that said Divine Force manifests in all things... well then working with someone like from the Elder Scrolls mythos could potentially be just as 'easy' and effective as working with Nyx of Roman mythos. If you're a chaote, then Pop Culture icons are completely legitimate identities to work with, and in many cases are preferred over existing deities specifically because they are more flexible and tractable than existing deities. There is also the fact that many people don't just work with the Pop Culture icons, but actually resonate with the surrounding religious ideas behind them.

            There are a lot of Pop Culture icons which have very complex and detailed lore, mythology and religion. I'll come back to Elder Scrolls, because that's what I'm most familiar with... but there are not only a number of deities in the Elder Scrolls lore, but they each have relationships to each other; the different races have different names for the same deities, which can be explored through books you pick up in your travels; the Daedric Princes have realms within Oblivion (the Otherworlds) which can be visited; you interact with many of the deities and Daedric Princes through the games; you are submersed in the culture and beliefs of the races who's lands you are in; and if you care to read all the lore you can construct a workable religious or spiritual path with relative ease. As someone who spends a lot of my spare time in the Elder Scrolls universe, I can absolutely see how it would seem an attractive thing to do to construct my spiritual and religious practices around some of the deities... and if you weren't a hard polytheist, it would be just as easy (if not easier!) to do that then it would be to read a bunch of authors and academic texts about any existing Thisworld mythology or path.
            I appreciate the response, and I do get what you're saying. I guess a better point that I could have made is that people should carefully consider which deities/symbols/archetypes/lore are actually the best for attaining a higher form of conversation (above the ego level), and which just seem personally appealing. Of course, if someone finds that x fits whatever function they originally intended, it's their own business. On the other hand, I think it's easy for people to mistake something as more important or genuine within their own work than it actually is, especially if it's emotionally satisfying... I've had a few realizations like this. And obviously there's nothing wrong with drawing some very general inspiration from fiction. I'm pretty sure everyone does that.

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              #51
              Re: Pop Culture Paganism

              Originally posted by Medusa View Post
              I have to ask. And this time I'm going to do so without judgement because I honestly canot form an opinion on this.

              Do people actually believe believe this? Like they are going to base not only this life but their very real afterlife on this?

              Or is this more of a coping mechanism to get along in the world. A sort of I'm going to put on these Disney Mickey ears for the next few hours while at Disneyland and drink the koolaid. Because that I can actually understand. I know exactly how that feels and that's an actual experience for me when I go to Disneyland.

              I mean if it's like 'this is real reality' then I feel like that might constitute a hard case of mental illness. I see mental illness. I've lived with it. Believing in things that are not real and not knowing the difference seriously makes you crazy in the literal medical sense. But believing in it but knowing waaay down under, it's not, it's just a nicer view of the world, then ok.

              I get that. Some people need this to get through the world. Some people just need Wolverine.

              “Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

              In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.

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                #52
                Re: Pop Culture Paganism

                Originally posted by Wonder View Post
                “Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

                In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.
                Love this...

                :cthulhu::cthulhu::cthulhu:

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                  #53
                  Re: Pop Culture Paganism

                  Cthulhu is real. I don't mess with it. Nope.

                  (stays out of corners)
                  Satan is my spirit animal

                  Comment


                    #54
                    Re: Pop Culture Paganism

                    Originally posted by Medusa View Post
                    Cthulhu is real. I don't mess with it. Nope.

                    (stays out of corners)
                    Have I mentioned lately how much I love your posts? ^^
                    Probably wise not to read any cryptic-sounding verse out loud too.

                    Comment


                      #55
                      Re: Pop Culture Paganism

                      Originally posted by Azimuth View Post
                      On the other hand, I think it's easy for people to mistake something as more important or genuine within their own work than it actually is, especially if it's emotionally satisfying...
                      Does this matter? Really, at the end of the day, the gods are invisible, intangible, subjective and abstract agents--they are no more real, except in our individual perceptions and beliefs, than Batman. If, at the end of the day, belief in Batman makes you a better person, does it matter whether its simply emotionally satisfying?
                      Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
                      sigpic

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                        #56
                        Re: Pop Culture Paganism

                        If I am gonna go with pop culture stuff,this guy will do...also name this Character

                        MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

                        all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
                        NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
                        don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.




                        sigpic

                        my new page here,let me know what you think.


                        nothing but the shadow of what was

                        witchvox
                        http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.html

                        Comment


                          #57
                          Re: Pop Culture Paganism

                          Originally posted by anunitu View Post
                          If I am gonna go with pop culture stuff,this guy will do...also name this Character

                          Crusader Rabbit.
                          Yikes, all that cultural appropriation that used to be here tho

                          Comment


                            #58
                            Re: Pop Culture Paganism

                            Showing your age there.....This was as they said the first cartoon on TV,ever..
                            MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

                            all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
                            NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
                            don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.




                            sigpic

                            my new page here,let me know what you think.


                            nothing but the shadow of what was

                            witchvox
                            http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.html

                            Comment


                              #59
                              Re: Pop Culture Paganism

                              Originally posted by thalassa View Post
                              Does this matter? Really, at the end of the day, the gods are invisible, intangible, subjective and abstract agents--they are no more real, except in our individual perceptions and beliefs, than Batman. If, at the end of the day, belief in Batman makes you a better person, does it matter whether its simply emotionally satisfying?
                              That was essentially my point. I apologize if it was so poorly phrased. Of course, my point was also that "pop culture paganism" isn't always born out of necessity; why does it matter what people believe so long as it helps them? Because it might not. Belief in Batman might make someone a better person, or it might just be a belief in Batman (at which point the individual is not only being a bit delusional but is acting treacherously to their own spiritual journey by practicing something which neither true nor useful, to him/herself or anyone else).

                              Mainly I was implying that the hypothetical "Batman practitioner" should practice careful skepticism and weigh which things are best. This is just as important in spirituality as it is anywhere else. I never claimed that "pop paganism" could never work.
                              Last edited by Azimuth; 18 Aug 2015, 11:23.

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                                #60
                                Re: Pop Culture Paganism

                                Originally posted by Azimuth View Post

                                Mainly I was implying that the hypothetical "Batman practitioner" should practice careful skepticism and weigh which things are best. .

                                I think this is true whether you worship Batman, Jesus, Zeus, or nothing at all!
                                Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
                                sigpic

                                Comment

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